Details of Melbourne Plume Plotter

This page should be read in conjunction with How Plume Plotter Works. It provides more details specific to the Melbourne version of Plume Plotter.

Stacks and buildings

The stack and buildings were included in the model as described in [1]. Moreover, the plume plotter uses the BPIP specification included in that document.

Stack measurements

These are taken from [1]:

The following values are used for albedo, Bowen ratio and roughness length. They are averages of those specified in [1]:

Emissions

The emission rates of pollutants are taken from [1]:

PollutantEmission rate
per second
Oxides of nitrogen10.58 g
Particulates441 mg
TVOC882 mg
Hydrogen chloride529 mg
Hydrogen flouride88.2 mg
Sulphur dioxide2.645 g
Carbon monoxide4.408 g
Ammonia882 mg
Cadmium and thallium1.76 mg
Other metals26.5 mg
Mercury1.76 mg
Dioxins and furans3.527 ng
PAHs17.6 μg

Background levels

The background levels of pollutants are taken from [1]:

PollutantBackground
concentration per m3
Oxides of nitrogen16 μg
Particulates17 μg
TVOCN/A
Hydrogen chlorideN/A
Hydrogen flourideN/A
Sulphur dioxide10.5 μg
Carbon monoxide1.992 mg
AmmoniaN/A
Cadmium and thalliumN/A
Other metalsN/A
MercuryN/A
Dioxins and furansN/A
PAHsN/A

Weather data

Weather data is taken from METAR reports from a local airport: Melbourne.

Upper air data is the latest reported by the Melbourne Airport upper air station.

References

1. Melbourne Energy and Resource Centre: Air Quality Assessment. Katestone Environmental Pty Ltd. November 2023.